Patient creates Living With: a line of t-shirts that give empowerment

About the solution

The bright two-toned green color palette for the ADHD T-shirt is meant to represent the “energetic and hyperactive persona” of someone with ADHD. The module represents an ADHD person’s distracted train of thought and the tendency to bounce around from one thing to another. It is a visual deviation in thought and action: the color shifts, the size changes, and the bigger circle is left unfinished. The pattern is a slightly skewed repetition of the module, which creates the bigger picture of an energized, unfocused, and lively mass.

The depression T-shirt is rendered in subdued shades of purple, with the deep violet being visually heavier than the red-violet. The module is designed to convey a sense of internal weight pulling down while remaining vertical as a whole shape, to signify a sense for longing for uplifting happiness. As a whole, the pattern also reinforces the feeling of being weighed down, while also portraying a layer between the inner self and the public self.

The OCD T-shirt is a three-shade palette comprised of multiple yellow hues because of the color’s connotations of stress and alertness. The arrangement of shapes in the module represents the systematic anxiety that triggers compulsions and how it shadows an OCD individual at all times. As a whole, the pattern has a rigidity and exactness that reflects the intentionality of the ritualistic actions performed by an individual living with OCD.

The color palette for Bipolar disorder T-shirt is comprised of violet and bright blue, which represent the high and the low poles that a person living with Bipolar Disorder cycles between. The shapes within the module visualize the shift between high and low mood states, known as the drop. Individuals living with bipolar disorder often describe the drop as the hardest part and not being able to fully enjoy the high points because of the expected low on the horizon. The depression pattern is referenced by the shape of the low, to create a language for the designs as a series. As a whole, the pattern consists of multiple modules arranged to create tension between the up and the down, while ultimately remaining a single shape.

This solution shall not include mention to the use of drugs, chemicals or biologicals (including food); invasive devices; offensive, commercial or inherently dangerous content. This solution was not medically validated. Proceed with caution! If you have any doubts, please consult with a health professional.

About the author

The designer Dani Balenson, 22, has been living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) since the age of 11. She wanted to focus her thesis project on using design as a vehicle for positive change in the lives of people working on their mental health. Living With: is a line of t-shirts that empowers the wearer’s relationship with their disorder through the positive action of self-affirmation, abstracted behavioral patterns, and a small change in every day language. Each of the 4 shirt designs correspond to a specific disorder: depression, ADHD, bipolar disorder, and obsessive–comp